Director Mark Evers says there's been considerable focus on the Center’s recent designation by the National Cancer Institute.

“Our grant funding has gone up about 20% in the span of just about a year since getting our designation. We’re hiring new clinical recruits. We’ve been in need of an onco-fertility program, which has just been started. We recruited a lady from Cincinati Children’s, so a lot of exciting things both clinical and research,"Evers told WUKY.

Later in the day, participants shared 140 posters worth of research, with the best studies receiving prizes.

“I wanted to highlight in a concise fashion what all has been accomplished over the past year. When you see the body of work, it’s really quite phenomenal and seeing it sort of a 10 minute/15 minute clip is really useful to a lot of people," Evers said.

In addition to providing speakers and medical vendors, researcher Mike Mejia says the event offered an excellent opportunity to network.

“You know, this is the second year I’ve participated in this event. I’ve met great people, and I’ve had the opportunity to talk to people about the research I’m conducting and the research that other people are conducting, and I’ve been able to get great advice and great pointers, and just get to know people I can work with possibly in the future.”

The keynote was delivered by Dr. Harold Varmus, the NCI’s director and a Nobel laureate.